Life in the Minors - Chapter 6: Coaching Influence

WFUV Sports finds out how the Brooklyn Cyclones and the Staten Island Yankees players are influenced by their coaches.

Minor League Baseball: How does it differ from the majors? For the eleventh consecutive year, WFUV goes behind the scenes with the Brooklyn Cyclones and Staten Island Yankees In the Short Season Single-A NY-Penn League, it's long bus rides, low pay, and 76 games in 80 days. This is our look at Life in the Minors: How the Other Half Lives.

Steve Simineri, Brooklyn Cyclones Beat Reporter

Making it to the big leagues is no easy task and a long process. These players work hard year after year to improve their game hoping to make it to the big show. Throughout all these young ballplayer's careers they have had many coaches, from little league to right now in Brooklyn. All of these coaches play a huge role in not only the play of these players but also in shaping them as young men.

Brooklyn manager Rich Donnelly has been coaching baseball for over 25 years and is a baseball lifer. He spent 14 years working on Jim Leyland's staff in the bigs and is a fountain of baseball knowledge. Any tips he can give to these young players shouldn’t be taken lightly. Along with former Cy young winner, pitching coach Frank Viola, these young players have some reliable coaches to help refine and improve their game.

These coaches are here to show these guys the ropes and give them some useful tips along the way. They have seen what it takes to get it done in the big leagues and any knowledge they can instill in these players only heightens their chances to make it to the big leagues.

Sean Mercer, Staten Island Yankees Beat Reporter

In the Short Season Single-A NY-Penn League, most of the players are fresh out of college or high school and thus have little to no veterans to look to for help as young players in the majors do. Thus, the role of the coaches becomes much larger as they are not just managing these players to win they have to help teach these guys the nuances of the game that you only learn with experience.

All of the players I spoke to had high praise for their coaches. Pitcher Will Oliver spoke to the fact that having a young pitching coach who has had a good amount of success in baseball is very helpful.

Pitcher Robbie Pinder also had high praise for pitching coach Danny Borrell saying that he thought that having a coach who was not too far removed from the game and not too much older than the players helped because it makes him very relatable.

The common theme in talking to all these players was that they all had high opinions of their coaches and felt they truly help them to be better players. Good coaching in the minors can be a huge help in these players achieving their goal to eventually be playing in the big ballpark in the Bronx.